Intuition, Chi and Health

There is a hidden “energy” crisis exploding in the world, and best-selling author and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA, Judith Orloff, M.D. contends that traditional medicine and psychiatry have failed miserably in addressing it. She claims that the standard model of our bodies as engines that just need fuel and maintenance (healthy diet, sleep and exercise) is completely antiquated, and that our modern lifestyles thrust many of us into “chronic physical, spiritual and emotional depletion”.

Orloff’s 2005 book from Crown Publishing Group, Positive Energy: 10 Extraordinary Prescriptions for Transforming Fatigue, Stress & Fear Into Vibrance, Strength & Love, is a guide for tapping into the subtle energies (also called Chi) that operate below our immediate perception, a vast network of energy fields (vibrations) that emanate from everything and everyone we encounter. The study and use of subtle energy for healing has existed in Eastern practices for thousands of years. Orloff writes that Western culture has shut most of us off from the perception and experience of subtle energy by discouraging the development of intuition and by reacting with skepticism and resistance to the ancient ways of explaining the flow of subtle energy through the energy centers (chakras) of our bodies.

Everyone has their own “energetic style” according to Orloff. She says that intellectuals tend to constrict or block energy and intuitive empaths give and absorb energy. Dr. Orloff focuses primarily on helping intuitive empaths because she says: “Like it or not, empaths process all stress in their bodies, are more prone to take in a personal or global trauma’s energetic residue.Vulnerable to negativity, whether miniscule or horrendous, many empaths have chronically low energy, a common complaint that baffles traditional physicians. The symptoms of intuitive overload include depression, psychosomatic complaints, and overeating.”

Dr. Orloff believes awareness and utilization of subtle energies, whether as an empath or an intellectual, is vital to our well-being in today’s high-tech, volatile society. Her book outlines a “Ten Prescription” program for recognizing and overhauling the way experience subtle energy is experienced:

Awaken Intuition and Rejuvenate

Find a Nurturing Spiritual Path

Design an Energy-Aware Diet, Fitness and Health Plan

Generate Positive Emotional Energy

Develop a Heart-Centered Sexuality

Open to the Flow of Inspiration and Creativity

Celebrate Laughter, Pampering and Retreat

Attract Positive People and Situations

Protect Yourself from Energy Vampires

Create Abundance

Dr. Orloff’s Positive Energy plan asserts that understanding and managing the energy-overwhelming scenarios that drive us to unhealthy habits can not only make a huge difference in balancing our individual health; it can contribute to the overall health of our planet.

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